Health authorities have recently recommended that trans fats be reduced or eliminated in diets because they present health risks. In response, the food industry has largely replaced the use of trans fats with non-trans fats. However, the replacement of trans fats with non-trans fats poses new concerns over the need and ability to clean and remove such soils from a variety of surfaces. Non-trans fat soils and other soils form thickened liquid, semi-solid or solid soils on a variety of surfaces, presenting soils which are very difficult to remove from surfaces. After replacing the use of trans fats with non-trans fats, the food industry has also experienced an unexplained higher frequency of laundry fires. Formulas and methods of cleaning to better remove non-trans fats, are prone to cause fire due to their substantial heat of polymerization. Non-trans fats have conjugated double bonds that can polymerize and the substantial heat of polymerization involved can cause spontaneous combustion or fire, for example, in a pile of rags used to mop up these non-trans fat soils.
Similarly another cleaning challenge presented has been the drastically increased use by consumers of sunscreens. Medical organizations such as the American Cancer Society recommend the use of sunscreen because it prevents the squamous cell carcinoma and the basal cell carcinoma which may be caused by ultraviolet radiation from the sun. Many of these sunscreens contain components such as avobenzones and oxybenzones. These chemicals, while not visible prior to wash, typically appear on fabrics as yellow patches after washing with detergent-builder combinations at high pH. Current methods to treat these types of stains have included bleach, and other traditional pretreatments, all to no avail.
As can be seen, there is a need in the industry for improvement of cleaning compositions, such as hard surface and laundry detergents so that difficult soils such as non-trans fat soils and sunscreen stains can be removed in a safe, environmentally friendly, and effective manner.